The theme of this year’s IDAHOT focuses on families, particularly their role in the well-being of their LGBTI members, as well as promoting respect for LGBTI families’ rights. The BACC events as well as the social media campaign launched under #RainbowFamily focus on educating and engaging members of the public on LGBTI issues and inspiring them to champion these rights, not just on IDAHOT, but every day.

Show the world you are proud to be LGBTI or support LGBTI rights by getting involved.

The Ministry of Justice, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand, the World Bank, UNESCO, the Embassy of Canada and more than 30 community and development partners are celebrating and standing in solidarity with the country’s LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) community at a special daylong event at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.

The 2017 “We are a #RainbowFamily” IDAHOT Thailand event, will highlight challenges facing LGBTI community and the crucial role of families in providing a much needed pillar of support for their LGBTI members as well as empowering and supporting LGBTI families.

From a daytime forum spotlighting the latest research on and personal stories from the LGBTI community in Thailand to a star-studded evening commemoration at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, the 2017 IDAHOT Thailand celebration promises to be inspiring, informative, empowering and entertaining.

The video, “Is Thailand the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex paradise it’s often seen to be?” asks the question that was at the center of our IDAHOT activities and features some of the sights, sounds and insights of that unforgettable week.

The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre will be shining brightly in rainbow colours and the stars will be out to champion lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights at this Sunday 17 May's commemoration of the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT).

The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT) is on Sunday 17 May.

To mark the International Year of Light 2015 and celebrate Thailand’s diversity, the Philips Lighting Academy of Thailand, Bioarchitek, KMUTT’s School of Architecture and Design and the Thailand Illumination Engineering Association (TIEA) will paint the Bangkok Arts & Culture Centre in rainbow colors. The light installation ‘We are Rainbow’ will be a colorful backdrop to a week of IDAHOT events (12-19 May) aimed at raising awareness for LGBTI rights in Thailand, in particular, LGBTI Youth.

For the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT) 2014, we chalked enormous rainbows in the yards of several local and international schools across Bangkok, to raise awareness of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) students to a safe education, free from bullying. Each chalking was carried out by volunteer students and the LGBTI community, arranged in partnership with the schools themselves and supported by an array of activities, including panel and classroom discussions, a school assembly and performance by the talented Bangkok Cheerleaders.

We called it #schoolrainbow with the aim of bringing awareness to the problem of bullying, particularly towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, at schools in Thailand and around the world.

Such bullying can lead to higher risk of illegal drug use, unprotected sex, HIV, self-harm and suicide. Download the full analysis